How Age Impacts Your View of Life

We're living in a literal and figurative season where people are often waxing nostalgic over the "good old days." Holiday gatherings yield family stories that make one wish that somehow we could be back at Grandma's house again because it was, apparently, so wonderful. World financial markets prompt the same kinds of recollections of the past as well as--for some--grandly optimistic outlooks for a "new" kind future.

You may be either nodding or shaking your head in agreement or disagreement. Exactly.

"Looking at the world through rose-colored glasses" is a saying that we hear often. Many people look at things optimistically, regardless of the circumstances. However,  according to a psychological study our views on past and future happiness change according to where we are in our lives.

Dr. Margie Lachman and colleagues found that younger and middle-aged people tend to underestimate their past happiness and to overestimate their future happiness - probably because to do so helps motivate them to strive for a better life. This data came from a survey of over 3000 American adults conducted twice and spaced nine years apart.

Age Changes Outlook

Older people (aged over 65) were more accurate in recalling their past and future life satisfaction.  This probably reflected the need to accept their life as it had been lived, combined with their greater understanding of the human capacity to adjust emotionally to whatever life throws our way. Indeed, in line with the predictions of the older participants, most people's life satisfaction, in this study and others, actually changes very little through the years (in Western democracies, at least).

Lachman's study team also looked at how adaptive it was for people to have either rose-tinted or darkly clouded views of their past and future. The results showed that at whatever age, it is beneficial to have a more realistic view of the past and future. Those participants who more accurately perceived their past and future happiness tended to suffer less depression and enjoy better health.

"The young have an illusion of continued improvement, seeing the past as worse than it really was and the future as better than it turns out to be," the researchers said. "This illusion is consistent with their motivational orientation toward continued growth and gains."

Workplace Application

While the future belongs to the young, the absence of older workers could be a recipe for unrealistic decision-making. Adding reality and experience to idealism and energy doesn't equal "resistance to change;"it adds a much-needed dimension to decisions and execution that may provide a real pathway to move ideas and products forward.

During the past few years we've seen the headlines for Talent Wars, Saving Institutional Knowledge and Learning, and Diversity. My experience so far with recent layoffs has been that workers nearing retirement are being offered packages to accelerate their decisions. I understand the legal and financial benefits of such a strategy to the corporations involved. However, when the corporate sun starts shining brightly again, I wonder if the decision-making maturity and collective knowledge of these newly "retired" workers will be irreplaceable and actually prompt a lengthening of the recovery process. 

Then, who ya gonna call: Ghostbusters?

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For more on the research cited here:

Margie E. Lachman, Christina Röcke, Christopher Rosnick, Carol D. Ryff (2008). Realism and Illusion in Americans' Temporal Views of Their Life Satisfaction: Age Differences in Reconstructing the Past and Anticipating the Future Psychological Science, 19 (9), 889-897 DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-9280.2008.02173.x

Comments

[Karin H.]

Morning Steve

(Looks like Mr Nimoy found his way to your blog - now there's a 'character' that knows his past from his future ;-))

What I gathered from your post is perhaps the older we become, the mellower we become: enjoying life with all its warts because we have learned everything experience - good or bad - mellows too in our memories.

Karin H. (Keep It Simple Sweetheart, specially in business)

[Jim Stroup]

What an excellent lessen for business to draw from this, in an age of massive baby-boomer retirements, perhaps accelerated in some industries by recent events! Even aside from that, this has application in a range of areas, from team-building to decision-making input groups, and more.

Thanks for such a thought-provoker for the holidays - and best wishes for those for you and yours. Thanks for a terrific year of your work and writing; looking forward to many more.

[Dan McCarthy]

Steve –

Where DO you find this stuff?! Once again, thanks for providing a thought-provoking piece of research, as well as your uncanny way of tying it back to practical workplace application.

Recent blog post: Best Open Enrollment Executive Education Programs 2008

[peter vajda]

Hi, Steve

The point that leaps out at me is "Adding reality and experience to idealism and energy doesn't equal "resistance to change;"it adds a much-needed dimension to decisions and execution that may provide a real pathway to move ideas and products forward."

What I see is that self-awareness is the secret sauce that helps to morph illusion into reality. Optimism, positivity, etc. are fine when grounded in a healthy sense of self-awareness. Perhaps looking forward to a greater sense of self-awareness will result in folks experiencing a more stable and honest sense of reality when it comes to their having a conscious grasp of life’s possibilities and limitations.

As a formula, happiness is expecations divided by reality. When reality is replaced by illusion and expections are unreal, well, we can see where that leads.

I think the success of the recovery process you point to may be tempered and tutored by the wisdom and degree of self-awareness of those whose choices and decisions count. Age itself is not the sole criterion.

On another note, Steve, thank you for the time and energy you devote to raising the level of the collective consciousness through your blog. I wish you a meaningful and purposful '09.

[Steve Roesler]

Karin,

I think the "mellowing" effect is implied here in the context of being able to accurately perceive and adapt based upon numerous experiences.

Spock, of course, doesn't have to worry about mood swings. . .

[Steve Roesler]

Hi, Jim,

Pleased that you found it useful; it does appear that the business applications are far-reaching.

All the best to you and your family, and looking forward to our continued relationship here in the year ahead.

[Steve Roesler]

Dan,

Gee, now I'm wondering if it appears that I have way too much time on my hands:-)

There are a number of solid research sites to which I subscribe. The downside is that it can sometimes take a little too much time sifting through the pages of statistics to get to the heart of the data. But I think it's helpful to readers when they can see a factual foundation that promotes understanding of real-life issues.

Here's to a terrific year ahead at Great Leadership!

[Steve Roesler]

Thank you for the kind words and wishes, Peter. I always feel as if your comments take the original post to a deeper level and, in some cases, a totally new direction.

Certainly, age is not the sole criterion for wisdom. In fact, it is information like that cited in the post that I hope will lead to the greater degree of self-awareness to which you refer. Such awareness may lead organizations to think twice before automatically pulling the employment plug based on age.

Wishing you a terrific season and a meaningful year ahead. . .

[Wally Bock]

Let me add to a fine post and a rich mix of responses. When experienced workers leave, they take more than their knowledge with them. They also take their relationships.

In one client, we identified a particular engineer as a person who sent and received an above-average number of emails. No, they were not jokes or forwards. He was a person who people had learned knew a lot of people and who loved to connect people and solve problems.

In another client an administrative assistant was in the same position. People called her to find out how to solve a problem.

If those people leave your organization, they leave behind a gaping hole in the communicatin and problem solving networks.

[David]

Ageing makes me more understanding and wise :)